If you search for child abuse on Bing - Microsoft will know

By published

Microsoft’s Bing search engine has become the first in the world to introduce pop-up notifications for those who decide to seek out child abuse content including child pornography. The system will be launching in the United Kingdom first.

The new system will first notify users that they are searching for illegal content and offer details on available counseling services.

Yahoo, which uses Bing search results, says it may also be implementing a similar technology in the future. Google on the other hand, states that it will continue to report material, but has no plans to use pop-up notifications.

It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that Bing is now reacting to child abuse content searched in the UK, as the prime minister recently stated that companies needed to do more to block access to such images.

The Bing popup is only triggered by certain blacklist words compiled by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). A spokesman from Microsoft stated the purpose of the new pop up system is designed “to stop those who may be drifting towards trying to find illegal child abuse content on the web via search engines.”

Another spokesman commented on Microsoft’s past fight against child exploitation:

"Microsoft has been, and remains, a strong proponent of proactive action in reasonable and scalable ways by the technology industry in the fight against technology-facilitated child exploitation. We have teams dedicated globally to abuse reporting on our services and the development of new innovations to combat child exploitation more broadly."

The prime minister had requested a notification that would warn people about the consequences of searching out such content including “losing their job, their family, and even access to their children.”

Bing’s initiative is a positive step forward, but Google still holds an 88% share of the UK search engine market and until the Mountain View, California company jumps in on the notification warnings – they are will go unnoticed and be useless to 88% of the population.

Lastly, the UK government stated that Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Twitter would allow the Internet Watch Foundation to actively seek out abusive images; this movement was put into effect last month.

What do you think about Bing’s new popup notification system for child abuse content – is it enough?

Source: BBC

Michael Archambault
Michael Archambault
77 Comments
  • Obligatory "oh no PRISM, we are being spied on" comments. Shut up
  • Clearly you don't care about your freedoms.
    So, I would tell you to "shut up", but that would put me on your level.
  • The only level that matters
  • True. You can't build up to the top without subterranean levels.
  • The rights of the young and innocent come before the rights of sick perverts. I don't know how you can defend searching for child porn as a right and freedom.
  • In case you do not know, the KKK has the right to speak and march and assemble here in the USA.  Freedom of speach extends to even speach you do not like.  The ACLU and others have fought for that right.  Despite what many claim, the SCOTUS has said that even the right to shout "fire" in a crowded dark movie theater is protected.  Why?  because what if there is really a fire.
     
    When government decides to censor, it does not stop.  Who decides next what should be censored?  Perhaps we should censor political speach since it can be harmful.  Do not like the NRA, lets censor them. Who is next? Let us make a list everyone has someone they do not like. Why stop, let us censor them all. We have seen with the IRS scandel and Snowden that government knows no bounds in taking away your rights.
     
    You like many fall into the "good king" trap.  They are doing this for the "children"  The issue is this censor may be for a good cause and the people doing this may have a good heart and intention for doing this today.  But what about the next person?  You cannot always assume that government or anyone ALWAYS has good intentions.
     
    What if someone now decides to blacklist the word "breast" because it is offensive to someone.  You cannot search either for chicken breast recipes nor reasearch breast cancer and the slippery slope goes down hill from there.
     
    Many of these so called solutions are done because they are emotional or assumed to be "easy" fixes for a more difficult problem.  The issue is, criminals and people who have a demand will simply find other means around a stupid black list.  For example, 'La-da-di-da-di is slang for MDMA, also known as ecstasy.  If someone bans that, they will simply use other slang.  Blacklists never work.  Worse, you may drive these people more underground and make them harder to find.  All censorship or silly laws do is make it harder for law abiding people.
     
    Going way back to Founder of the USA, the Founders in the Federalist Papers warned about this type of censorship and even gave examples for their time.
     
    Law enforcement and government needs to do the hard work and not rely on stupid tricks.  Before there was an internet there was child porn, black list it and there will still be child porn and people who do these awfull things to children will simply go deeper underground.
     
    Bringing things to light is self sanatizing.  Making things go into the dark just makes things more difficult to catch these people and takes liberty and freedoms from everyone else.
     
    Has it been so long that we have forgotten what the government tried to do with Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and how it kept expanding.  How it would have Impact on online freedom of speech and one of the excuses was Protection against counterfeit drugs.  Govenment is mostly about control, they are rarely there to help.
    While the intentions are good, this can and will turn into abuse of the freedoms of the law abiding.
  • Blah blah blah blah
  • "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
    "What matters is the potential not the intentions."
    If you read the two lines, you can find all the world tragedy and mishaps have the same seed?
    You allow the powers who govern us with the potential for the best of intentions and history has taught us where it can lead to….
  • in certain countries it is not illegal, even not immoral. for example, here: http://veneremurcernui.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/sick-child-brides/
  • Wtf is this hate mongering article? First off, learn some history instead of reading some moron's perception of what he thinks is going on. Second, there is a HUGE difference between marriage at a young age and posting and searching images of child abuse.
  • The day you got your ID, submitted your fingerprints and registered yourself in the society, you lost your freedom. So quit it already.
  • As if these sick minds were actually using that specific search term. Duh.
  • Some do, maybe this kind if message is actually preventing them from taking the next step.
  • Indeed. I think this is a brilliant idea. Offering counselling services is the key factor, I think. It's like saying "Hey, I know what you're doing, and dude, it's wrong. You should get some help, OK? Try these places."
  • Really that's what Deep Web is for. Sickening
  • If they already bookmarked a site, then it's already been bypassed.
  • oooh microsoft...NOT a good move.
  • Why???
  • first illegal things, then "unethical things" then "immoral things"   First just tracked and logged with Microsoft, next tracked, logged, and sent to your local police department.
     
    It is a slippery slope that has no end.
  • It's only bad news for the sick minds that do these things. I'm saying good move Microsoft defintely doing the right thing
  • It is only a good move when it informs you first and failure to comply will lead to tracking. Not tracking all the way for the entire legitimate search (but if they have potential to tracked and if you allow it once, you don’t have a say next time you do a legitimate search, i.e. if you allow spotting a rotten potato in a basket, all the baskets full of good potatoes can be searched for rotten one )
  • Read the article. Google does the exact same thing; the difference is MS lets you know that when you search things like this, you can get in trouble, Google just silently records your actions and reports them.
  • Pervert.
  • I think Microsoft just tracking your every move on internet..........wonder why you guys so annoyed when Microsoft spread news that Google is tracking you.
  • Because Google sells the info, increasing spam and intrusive ads.
  • and who told you that Google sells the info,,,,,Microsoft and you believe that. That's not the case .....Go and get more info and then comment.
    Google is not selling any info, its other way around.
  • Google never sells your data, Facebook does that. Google just uses the data in the numerous Free service it provide to attract advertisement. Do you get the same pop ups and adverts on very Google platform you visit and all the popup are really what you are looking for …
    “Déjà vu, my computer is so intelligent. It know what I want “ think again… you will find the truth.
  • Do you know what tracking means? But I know you don't really care because you are just a Google apologist. This move by Microsoft is in no way similar to Google's tracking, and yet you want to lump it together with Google's behavior.
  • tracking is tracking whether it is illegal or not.  This kind of crap always starts out with good intentions...then someone goes 'What if we tracked this", "or what if we reported that?"  Leave it up to these guys and you'll have every search term posted automatically to your facebook or twitter for the whole world to see.
  • Well it feels that it does invade some privacy but its for a good cause. Those sick perverted minds need someone to stop them.
  • This!!
  • I always use anonymous proxy servers, you know, just to be safe!
  • This and ONLY THIS is the kind of cases where I fully support monitorization from Governments.
  • And what of people doing academic research on the subject? This reeks of first amendment rights violations (at least here in the USA).
  • I did a child abuse search for brochures I needed to get for a class I'm taking in college. This sounds good but there has to be a way to implement it better.
  • Easy, when the police come a knocking you show the paper you wrote, have them discuss the matter with your professor and its all good.
  • ROFL HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAA, yeah, good luck with that, in a world where guilty until proven innocent, you'll be trying to convince them in the back of the squad car.
     
    I'm good with this, just don't go overboard with it. Having children myself, I don't want to end up on a list though searching terms like Dad & Daughter dance (which has absolutely nothing to do with incest), or Little Girls Dresses (which already is pretty slippery if your the Father/Mother of a daughter, and you've ever tried the term before, it gets pretty dicey the further you go in page count).
     
    That said, improve it and watch for patterns, then improve it some more before implementation.  
  • When they monitor your search they can also see what you looked for. If you search for academic purposes it will be noticeable since you'll access papers, reports etc. If you access video or image content that's prohibited then that will also be noticed. And FYI...there's no 1st amendment infringement here no matter how liberal you are. The rulings of the US Supreme Court are rather clear in this subject.
  • So what if I have to do an academic research on child abuse? Believe it or not, there are people doing research on this kind of stuff. I did mine on nuclear weapons and aftermath.
  • Easy. Don't watch any actual videos, view obscene photos or solicit children. I'm pretty sure it has filters that can tell you are doing research versus being a pervert.
  • But how good are those filters is what's so interesting. If filters are not that good, a lot of crucial material can be blocked off. While search engines are not primary sources for research, they still can be very important.
  • I'd be shocked if there was any sizeable group of pedophiles that actually used the web to find their content.
  • Deep web
  • Or newsgroups on some servers, I'd imagine.
  • What happens if I search porn? :'(
  • today nothing, but soon some government will deem it immoral and demand to be tracked and notified we are getting one step closer to Minority Report and thought police every day.
  • You will see Mr. Cameron's little firewall telling you that "Porn is responsible for corroding morals and innocence and will hence, not be publically accessible" (seriously, their words).
  • This is the first I've heard that google just reports this stuff. While good, it sounds like a great way to sabotage someone.
  • I think we should use PRISM to root out every one of these sick f-ks. A world without pedophiles is a much better world.
  • I support this. But as we know from the war against terror this kind of surveillance gets bigger and bigger. 
  • My weekly lolz of Pedobear may be coming to an end?
  • In a week from now the number of searches on "child abuse" will increase by alot just because people want to test what happens...
  • Freedom is not at any cost... Society has controls and they sometimes impinge freedom. Finding the balance is the tricky thing.
  • Kinda makes it difficult for researchers, counselors and cops from doing searches as well.
  • No it doesn't. Stop being naive.
  • I'm not for my computer having any type of nanny state to it, but I think we can all agree that anything to stop/prevent crimes against children is a good thing.
  • AKA: "We found another legal way to spy on you."
  • What a stupid argument. As soon as you type your search in to any search engine, you're sharing it. Microsoft are just responding to it for an extremely good cause. Bravo.
  • What the hell, Microsoft?
    It's already obnoxious that Skydrive blocks your account if you have nude images. (What it the rational behind that, anyway? What happens if I have nude images on my computer while using 8.1 with activated synching options? Does my computer get blocked or something?)
    How the hell will this have any use at all? What if I'm doing research on child abuse or something?
    Are you seriously expecting the consumers of child porn to not know that they are doing something illegal? You can bet your ass that they use far more secure methods than searching on Bing.
    A pedophile retarded enough to use Google for his urges wouldn't be able to survive into adulthood. You are more likely to catch very young teenagers that search for content in their age group.
  • There are legitimate reasons to search for this kind of material. Just another reason to NOT use bing.
  • People such as yourself really need to use some common sense. Do you really think there are no filters in place to distinguish who is viewing child pornography and soliciting sex from people researching criminal records and research papers? You are either naive or simply bored and need to rant.
  • go use google becouse bing informed you that you may be tracked for breaking the law and google does track your every step  for money without informing you ..
    may be duckduckgo.com will be good for you.
  • Honestly, it is a slippery slope. But I have come to terms that we already been under watch for a good while, therefore I believe its a good move on Microsoft and other companies that follow or have been doing that. It sure nips the problem in the bud for future potential pedophiles and you'd be shocked on how many people actually use the web to find their content. I have nothing to hide so it does no damage to me if we are being watched whether it be search engines, Xbox 1 or phones (since phones have internal batteries) we all know that's the future we are headed into. I much rather be watched in my own country than a foreign product i.e. PS4 or even worse Samsung which is a Korean company. In reference to the whole Prism hate on Microsoft from the whole Ps4 vs. Xbox 1.
  • i agree
  • Hmmmmm I see the good intent with this but I see some potential bad things happening.  What if a young teen is online and searching for these things? What if a kid knows that Bing does this and hates their parents and blasts bing with searches to get them in hot water.
     
    I just hope that if it starts tracking people down that a legitimate and full investigation confirms or denies involvement.  The bad thing about that is that if there's even a slight rumor of "that guy down the street looks at kiddy porn" then you're labeled, blacklisted and people will never treat you the same way.
     
    It IS a slippery slope that I hope can find the legit perpetrators out there but I fear that some innocent persons might get caught up in it as well.
  • Slippery, slippery slope.  Icy slope.  Bad, bad idea.  Good intent, but the ends don't justify the means.
  • If it stops one child being abused its well worth it.
  • You can still search for porn, just not child porn or child abuse.
    If Google chooses not to do a thing, then more child abuser will flock to them.
    I for one will disable keyword blocked google.com from my home so no one in my family can access it
  • Is midget porn illegal too? D:
  • no, just funny as fuck!
  • Wow there some paranoid bullshit on here. take off your tin foil hats and lay off the drugs a bit. ANYTHING that prevents just one child being abused is worth it. what is it about idiot americans hiding behind the constitution!? arnt the rights of children not to be abused more important than a peadophiles rights!? if you dont want to see bing popups dont search for kiddie porn you freaks!
  • Bing needs to improve their search algorithm.
    If I type "the naked and famous", which is a popular band, into Bing, my safesearch filter blocks all searches.
    If I type the same thing in google, no problem at all and nothing scandalous shows up.
  • I imagine most people searching for child porn are look for research articles and stuff to learn about the fight against child pornography.  These people end up being red flagged and redirected to these websites or what?  
    Maybe that is niave of me to think that is the most frequent reason for someone to use those search terms...
  • Ive been to the UK a couple of times with the family and I like it there. But they are well on their way of becoming a police state and the people there dont seem to care. 
  • nice to see pedophiles trying to protect themselves from being deprived of kiddy porn. 
  • Here's why I have no problem with this:
    More than 100 underage children saved in FBI sex trafficking sting
    http://now.msn.com/sex-trafficking-raids-by-fbi-save-more-than-100-underage-children
  • I once reported an incident where a minor innocently gave out their personal details on one of google's services and they did absolutely F@#$%%% nothing. To this day it's still there. "Do no evil" my A$$.